Breaking Mirrors: On Set With The Profoto Pro-10

Peter Belanger March 14, 2017

I was given a chance by Samy's Camera here in San Francisco to test out the new Profoto Pro-10 power pack (say that ten times fast). It is an excellent power pack with lots of cool features.

For this test, I was most interested in the flash duration. The test subject needed to be fun yet also demonstrate how well the Pro-10 can stop motion. Breaking glass ranks pretty high on the fun scale and is an excellent way to test freezing action.

Rather than clear glass, I dropped a mirror because it can reflect color, adding some unpredictability and creativity to the photo. A tent was built of seamless colored paper for the mirror to reflect. The dropped mirror was captured right after it had bounced off the ground and shattered still keeping its shape. When the mirror broke, each piece of glass reflected a different color from the paper tent, creating a mix of color shapes.

There was, of course, some testing to achieve the right timing and delay setting of the trigger before breaking the first mirror. To capture the mirror in focus (and to add to the superstitious nature of the shoot) I photographed at f13. The fastest flash durations of the Pro-10 are at the lower power settings. I used a flash duration of 1/45,000 (2.2) for the main head and 1/26,000 (4.2) for the head that was lighting the color paper. Both measurements are using the t.5 method and illustrated in this chart from Profoto:

Each mirror drop was captured by 3 different cameras, each at various angles. In the end, I only ended up using two of the camera angles.

If you've used any of the newer Profoto strobes, B1, B2, or D2, you'll be instantly familiar with the menus and interface of the Pro-10. The pack itself is very refined. If you need to photograph a splash of liquid or explosion of some kind, you'll need a fast flash duration. The Pro-10 definitely provides that.

I'm very pleased with how the images turned out. They are quite beautiful, well worth earning years of bad luck for smashing mirrors!

Here's a behind the scenes video: https://www.periscope.tv/peter_belanger/1lDGLRVjyaRxm?t=3s

Canon and Sony

Peter Belanger August 19, 2015

Another quick test: this time it’s about the Sony a7rII and Canon 5DSR. I added the Canon 5D MKIII just for reference. There is no grading added to the photos. My first impression is that the a7rII holds up very well against the 5DSR. This is my first Sony camera so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The 42MP image is close enough to the 5DSR that image quality does not seem sacrificed.

The biggest difference I see is the 5DSR has deep blacks and shadows where the a7rII has very open shadows. You can see an example of this with he black cars below. I’ve checked the settings for the 5DSR and even with everything turned down, the shadows are still too dark. I much prefer the open shadows that the a7rII produces.

Because the images are saved for the web you lose some of the sharpness—so it’s not the best way to judge the images. When you look at the RAW files the 5DSR is the clear winner based on sharpness. The a7rII is close behind the 5DSR and a step up from the 5D MKIII

If I had to pick one I would go with the 5DSR because everything works or will work with Canon (such as my Profoto Air-TTL). That said, I’m really impressed with the a7rII...it has made me rethink what I need in a camera. For instance, I love the a7rII’s electronic viewfinder. It great for reviewing images in bright sunlight. With the Canon I need to find shade in order to see the screen clearly. One thing I wish the a7rII had is a quick way to change focus on-the-fly. I found a workaround by customizing the buttons, but you still need to hit the center button before the dial lets you move the focus point. With the 5DSR I can just move the dial making it really fast to follow someone with the focus. After using the massive amount of focus points on the a7rII the 5DSR focus feels like a let down. The size of the a7rII makes it great for carrying around. It is less intimidating...allowing you to take more discreet photos.

Sony has impressed me with the a7rII, which now has a permanent home in my camera bag.

Canon 5DS R test

Peter Belanger July 10, 2015

There are tons of very scientific tests of the Canon 5DS R on the web. When I got mine I simply wanted to know who how it compared to my old Canon 5D MKIII and my Phase One IQ180. I don’t need charts or numbers I just wanted to see a real world image. I did a quick very un-scientific test out my studio window.

All three camera’s where photographed very similar to the pulled back photo above. I then overlaid them all at 100% which gives the crops below. I’m only looking at two things with my test, resolution and sharpness. The IQ180 is still king in that regard but I’m very impressed with how well the 5DS R did. I’ve always felt that the 5D MKIII had a lack of sharpness which prevented me from using it for more than people. Maybe it’s the added resolution but the 5DS R has a sharpness that puts it much closer to the IQ180. This is the first time that I might consider using a Canon for studio work.

This is the first time that I might consider using a Canon for studio work.

DIY: Overhead Camera Stand

Peter Belanger July 22, 2011

Studio stands are great but when shooting from above, the legs of the stand will get in the way of the shot. Hence, we created one ourselves. We got two 20ft. aluminum squared pipes, three pieces of plywood, two Avenger plates and two tall boys to...

iPhone 4 photo closeup

Peter Belanger August 5, 2010

Some folks have been asking for a higher res example of the iPhone 4 cover photo. The sample that I posted here was a screen grab from the Zinio version of the magazine. Zinio adds compression to photos to save on spacenot the best way to judge qu...

Macworld iPhone 4 cover

Peter Belanger July 29, 2010

Ive always thought it would be cool to photograph the cover of Macworld magazine using an iPhone as my camera. When the new iPhone 4 was released with the 5MP camera, the editors at Macworld were excited to see if it could be done. What better way...

iPhone 4 goes underwater

Peter Belanger July 20, 2010

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13491167&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1 Recently my vacations have been very water based. I think my kids might be part fish, they never want to leave th...

Weekly photos April #1

Peter Belanger April 12, 2010

Here are some more photos from my "Weekly photos" series.You can read more about the series here. http://www.peterbelanger.com/posts/45-weekly-photos

Macworld GPS opener

Peter Belanger February 2, 2010

I'm working on the opening photo for a Macworld article about iPhone GPS software. Unlike last month's red carpet shot, we didn't start with a sketch. This time we discussed in length what they were looking for. The concept is to show an iPhone mo...

Weekly photos Jan #4

Peter Belanger January 31, 2010

Here are some more photos from my "Weekly photos" series. You can read more about the series here. http://www.peterbelanger.com/posts/45-weekly-photos

Weekly photos Jan #2

Peter Belanger January 18, 2010

Here are some more photos from my "Weekly photos"series.You can read more about the series here. http://www.peterbelanger.com/posts/45-weekly-photos

Weekly Photos Jan #1

Peter Belanger January 10, 2010

Here are some more photos from my "Weekly photos" series

Merlin Steadicam test

Peter Belanger December 9, 2009

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8070404&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1 I've been wanting to try out a Steadicam for my Canon 5D Mark II for awhile now. I wasn't sure which kind to get a...

Weekly photos

Peter Belanger November 17, 2009

As much as I'd love to share the behind-the-scenes details of every project, sometimes the clients don't want to be written about. I've started a new series of images taken while working, but not showing sensitive content. Most days I'm in the stu...

Halloween

Peter Belanger November 5, 2009

Photographing my kids for Halloween is fun, but isn't without challenges. One of the biggest issues is that it is so dark that the camera can't focus. Another challenge is that the kids move so fastrunning from door to doorthat it's hard to get th...

Dry Ice

Peter Belanger October 26, 2009

Recently I had a shoot that called for a dreamy, cloudy effect. I decided to use dry ice rather then a smoke machine because dry ice smoke stays lower to the ground, which would highlight the products better. It sure makes a project interesting wh...

Digital Lens

Peter Belanger September 2, 2009

Now that I'm using the Phase One P65+ I've noticed that my non digital 150 isn't as sharp as it once was. I was using the Schneider APO-Symmar L lens 150/5.6. I've upgraded that to the Schneider APO-Digitar M lens 120/5.6.I did a very quick test o...

Air Conditioning

Peter Belanger July 30, 2009

The air conditioner for the server room was finally installed today. It may not look like much, but it's going to make everyone happy. For those of you that have been in my studio, you know the servers made a lot of noiseI had to keep the door off...

Server room

Peter Belanger July 15, 2009

In the past, when a job was completed, the film was stored in an archival filing cabinet. With digital it's not that easy. Years ago I converted my darkroom into a server room. The room has grown from a simple place to hold hard drives to holding ...

Location

Peter Belanger July 7, 2009

The art of packing for location. I try and pack everything very efficiently so it all fits inside my minivan. Everything then needs to fit on two carts no wider than a standard office door.Clientsarealwaysamazed at howmuchIcanfit.